Relaxation

I really enjoyed our speaker  Carole Lovell, who did the Relaxation for
mind-body connection today. Carole has such a calming voice . This
came at a good time because several of us were getting stressed out
because of elevator speech tomorrow. I did not know stress could
have such effects upon the body. Carole taught me a lot today, I plan
to use the techniques she taught us today when I go back to the library.

One small change

I don't have a staff but I do have a young lady who helps me
when I cannot be there. She's very professional at her job
but she's tardy in mornings quite often.

I had a  talk with her and discussed the importance of being
on time.It looks bad for the  library when she's late and patrons
 are left waiting for service.

We have now revised her hours and I kept an employee
who is now happier at her job.

Managing performance

  I don't do performance evaluations at my library but our library board does
 one on library directors once a year  We get evaluated on our performance
 and improvements needed. Goals should be set for employees so they
 will know when they've reached them and give you something to measure with.
 Telling them they've doing a good job will boost morale in the workplace and
 make them feel like part of the team.

Staff Development

 My library is a staff of one. I do have volunteers in the community
who come in to help. I assign them jobs based upon their abilities.
I reward them with recognition of a job well done and sometimes
a small gift of a book by their favorite author.

6 essentials for teams that work

                 

 
The first one is a high level of trust. Your behavior will have an effect upon your team's trust in you. Do you follow through with your appointed tasks in a timely manner? Are you trustworthy with information? Are you a team player? You have to be willing to be open with each other.  Trust  is  something that has to be earned.
The second one is a high level of respect by showing high regard for each other's abilities and skills,without respect a team won't work together.Everyone has different skill levels,it's just a matter of appointing the right person for the task. You have some who are good at speaking in public, others who write the speech and others better at  researching the subject to write it.
Third essential is commitment to a clear and common purpose. Defined roles of each member should be clear but there should also be room for disagreement .There should be a common goal that all are willing to work toward for the good of the team effort.
Fourth essential is the ability and willingness to manage conflict which  can be difficult with a group of people with different personalities . You have to be willing to ask questions of team members to find  a common solution to the problem.  This can be stressful but be a good thing if it makes the team better in the end.
The fifth essential is focusing  on results by measuring  and recognizing our achievements  from our efforts of working together .
The alignment of authority and accountability can be tricky. Each person needs to know what their defined role is so there's no misunderstanding of what they are responsible for getting done.A person in an authority position needs to be trustworthy and  respectful of the rest of the team .

2nd part of my scavenger hunt

1. Two periodicals with full text for children. National Geographic for Kids and Science News for Kids.
2. Treaties: Power Search. United States-1178
3 .Two female authors from Turkey. Alice Barter and Elizabeth Cox.
4. The three characters enjoying hiking around Beeechen Cliff in Jane Austen novel. Eleanor, Henry and        Catherine.
5. The appeal of dystopian literature for teens is . kids  love the "what ifs."They love the unknown and scary
    part of losing control.
6.The possible side effects of the hypertension drug Lotensin is dizziness, headache and cough.